Day 2-7 Hixson TN -Spring TX

We arrived Hixson TN late Tuesday afternoon at our friend Anne's home. We were able to spend a relaxing afternoon and evening with her, her daughter and new grandson, Mack. From Hixson we traveled mostly interstates through northwestern Georgia, then down to Alabama ending in Pearl, MS that evening. Of the many brochures the nice lady at the Alabama Welcome Center gave us, one was a list of the 100 Best Places to Eat in Alabama, listed by city or town. We decided to lunch at "Evangeline's" in Tuscaloosa,AL. http://www.evangelinesrestaurant.com/. The hostess, Mary Catherine, recommended their famous crab cakes which were out of this world.

Leaving Tuscaloosa, we decided to shoot for Pearl, MS to spend the night. We checked into our hotel and asked where we could find a store to buy a bottle of wine, only to find out that Pearl, MS is a dry city. He did help us find a neat local eatery in Jackson though. Julep's is famous for their Fried Green Tomatoes Napoleon which are layered with crab meat, goat cheese and lemon butter and their succulent fried chicken. Julep’s Award-Winning Fried Chicken - Chicken breast -or- half of a whole chicken fried and tossed in a honey rosemary glaze served with red-skin mashed potatoes and blackened green beans is a top ten choice by USA Today.The green beans had a nice little "kick" to them too. www.juleprestaurant.com. Our waitress, Meredith from Midland TX, was working there while going to ballet school in Jackson.

Left Pearl, MS (714 miles from home) going west to the other side of Jackson to pick up the famous Natchez Trace. It stretches from the Tennessee Valley to the Mississippi River at Natchez, MS. We started near Jackson and rode it to Natchez. We followed the trace that was used by prehistoric hunters, native American Indians, French and Spanish trappers, missionaries and soldiers. It is currently a beautiful two-lane parkway meandering through forests, bayous, marshland, and prairie, pretty much following the original trail. Like the Blue Ridge Parkway, there are no commercial establishments or signs. The only signs you see are for historic or scenic places. We did stop at the Mount Locust Inn and Plantation administered by the National Park Service (www.nps.gov/natr/). This circa 1780 inn was used by travelers up and down the trace for years.In the mid 1820's the steamboat and other roads pretty much brought an end to the Natchez Trace. It later became a corn and cotton plantation using over 50 slaves, of which many are buried in a slave cemetery not far from the main house. Natchez is a very nice and peaceful little city sitting right on the Mississippi River.

We arrived in Natchez in the early afternoon, early enough to have lunch at the Castle Restaurant and Bar behind the famous and beautiful Dunleith House, one of several ante-bellum homes in Natchez. Talking with several local folk who were born and raised in Natchez, they told us they left for a little while, only to return, citing the mysterious calling of the big river and needing to be near it. I would guess this feeling is the same as folks that love the ocean and always find some inner peace along its shores.

We crossed the "old" river into Vidalia, Louisiana and visited their welcome center for some travel ideas. I was explaining to the lady at the welcome center that we wanted to take secondary roads and not interstates to our final destination of that day, which would be Lafayette, LA. Cajun Country. A gentlemen walked up to the counter and began to give us some nice roads to travel to our destination. The retired state trooper was a great help, gave us good roads and told me where to follow the speed limits exactly, especially since I was driving an "arrest me red" sports car, as the trooper referred to it.

We drove south from Vidalia on SR15 which pretty much followed the river. You don't get to see the river because of the levees built up between the road and the river. This is prime, old river bottom farmland and we saw plenty of fields with soybeans,some corn and other crops in it. Near the south end of this route we crossed several dams, locks and hydroelectric stations that are part of the Old River Control Project of the U S Army Corps of Engineers. At one time, the Mississippi attempted to divert its waters through the Old River to go down the Atchafalaya River to the Gulf. Had it succeeded, and not been stopped by man, the growth of New Orleans and south would not have happened.

Beyond SR 15 we traveled other small back roads and byways ending in Lafayette, LA early that evening. There are many, many restaurants featuring the local Cajun cuisine consisting of crawfish, oysters, shrimp and catfish with some zesty sauces included. And don't forget the Gumbo. We took the advice of our state trooper friend and decided on Mulates Cajun Food in Breaux Bridge, LA. www.mulates.com. This place was great and I would recommend anyone traveling this area to try it out. They had a local Cajun band, dancing and great food served to us by a Cajun waitress, Emily Weir, who fixed me up a special gumbo!

The next morning we were off to the mecca of the Great American Condiment maker, McIlhenny's Tabasco Sauce on Avery Island in New Iberia, LA. The plant tour was wonderful, as was the store, and particularly the 200 acre jungle gardens surrounding the plant.

These folks make over 600,000 bottles of Tabasco Sauce a day and it's sold in 160 countries with labels in 26 languages.

From there we drove west on LA 14, going past many catfish farms and through many small towns. We lunched in Gueydon, La. Then drove on west through Orange and Beaumont, TX. Took TX 105 northwesterly to end the day at Peg's brother's in Spring. The extreme wining and dining has caused me to fall back on my updates. Tomorrow, Wednesday the 12th, we head for the state capitol at Austin.